Walker: College degree not a 'requirement' for higher office

Though he's still working on getting his own, Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that a college degree is not a requirement for higher office.

"I got to be governor without it," Walker said, according to CNN. "So I don't think it's any base requirement out there."

Walker, a potential Republican 2016 presidential contender, said he’s going for the degree to “send a message encouraging others.”

"I don't think I needed a college degree to be in the state assembly or to be county executive or to be governor. I don't know about any other position," Walker said. "But in the end I think most people, for example [as] governor, judge me based on performance and what we're able to do."

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His statement came two days day after the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinelreported Walker is hoping to complete his college degree.

Walker attended Marquette University in Milwaukee from 1986 to 1990, but left during his senior year when he got a job with the American Red Cross.

Laurel Patrick, a spokesman to Walker, told the newspaper the governor will try to take online classes through the University of Wisconsin.

"Gov. Walker would like to finish his degree through the UW FlexOption once they expand the degree offerings," she said.

The governor, who fended off a recall effort in 2012, deflected questions about his 2016 ambitions at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s spring leadership meeting last month in Las Vegas.

"Any Republican who's talking about anything other than 2014 is doing a disservice both to the party and to the country,” Walker said.